The Kissinger quote referenced by Tony Christy in last week’s paper, ‘it may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal’, was reportedly said privately to William F Buckley Jr, at the time of the 1968 Paris Peace Talks.
Nixon was the US president-elect at the time. Kissinger was referring to Vietnam presidents Diem and Thieu.
Diem, initially supported by the US, was later killed following a CIA- backed coup, and Thieu was about to be deposed by the US. Following the conversation, Buckley says he set up a meeting between Kissinger and Nixon, and Thieu was saved with the implication that if Thieu was deposed it would be perceived that ‘to be America’s friend is fatal’, and the rest is history.
But if only the quote was prophetic. I note America’s only friends at the moment are Netanyahu, Viktor Orbán and maybe Putin.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
